ABC Open Central Victoria

Writing through fences

Mental illness is the number one reason that people in detention present to hospital for treatment.

From her kitchen table in Central Victoria, Janet Galbraith coordinates an online writing group called Writing Through Fences where around 100 asylum seekers share their writing and poetry on Facebook. The group has become a community that cares for each other’s mental health across oceans and through fences.

The group began almost by accident in 2013.

Janet is a long time writer, poet, and visitor of people in Melbourne detention centres.

She read a poem on Facebook by a young woman named Halhal, who was in detention. Janet and Halhal exchanged poems and soon other people in detention started sending their poems to Janet. She gave feedback and posted her own writing for critique and saw that some kind of online group could help people in detention "grow their writing."

Writing Through Fences now encompasses onshore and offshore detention centres in the Australian immigration system, people on bridging visas and in community detention, and asylum seekers in detention in Indonesia and Israel.

All detention centres have some form of internet access, Janet says.

“It changes, and it’s limited. For example, on Manus Island, internet access is once a week and often between 3am and 4am.”

A Writing Through Fences workshop

Every week, Janet posts a writing workshop on the closed Facebook group. The workshops are for people to do in their own time. A workshop runs like this...

Stretch, breathe, and have a sense of your body.Remember this is your personal space. Even though in detention people will encroach on it, it is still your personal space.

Say out loud, “This is my leg.I am here.At the moment I am safe.”

Next, do a “stream of consciousness” writing. Put pen to paper and write.

Then, read the poem or writing that’s been posted and respond. The poem could be by someone in the group, or written by someone from the country of someone in the group - Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Nepal. Or it could be by an Australian Indigenous person, about the loss and occupation of homeland.

Do a writing exercise. Find a colour or a smell, and write about those things.

Sometimes it’s about remembering the beautiful times of your life, remembering what it is that you love.What it is that you have loved.

Some of the members of Writing Through Fences are journalists and writers who fled their country because of their writing, Janet says, and have not written since.

“When they were in touch with other writers through the group, they began to find words again. They began to remember themselves as writers, as something other than detainees, asylum seekers, refugees…”

Other people came across the group and started writing poetry for the first time.

After one young boy in detention on Christmas Island started writing, he said to Janet, “Maybe I am someone. Maybe if I can write this, I am someone in this world.”

And then there are the members of Writing Through Fences whom Janet says, “write, seriously, to keep themselves alive.”

Caring for each other’s mental health

Writing Through Fences is a writing group that has grown into a community.

“It’s like a family,” says Janet. “We’ve come to know each other through our writing, and people take a lot of care of each other.

“Everybody is so incredibly aware. If someone isn’t saying that they’re doing so well, someone in the group will pick that up and there will be messages back and forth, and so much encouragement.”

She believes that the relationships formed around writing are keeping people in the group alive.

“Through relationship, people are able to continue.”

What do people write about?

Janet doesn’t encourage people to write their traumatic stories because of the fear of retraumatising, though she says some are determined to write their personal stories.

People in Writing Through Fences often write about love, the stories of their people and culture, and their incredible longing for their families.

Is it a human being that you see what you look at me?From the depths of your soul, I ask you to give me an honest answer.

By Kanna, in his sixth year of detention.

Sometimes people just write about the beauty of the world.

“They’ll see a sunset and suddenly realise how beautiful this world is.”

Generally, Janet says, the writing comes back to one thing.

“They may start writing, just describing something like a flower, but it always comes back to the longing for freedom.”

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Comments

Laila

This is such a lovely and important thing for the people in detention to do. What a good way to help them to regain a sense of being 'someone' in the world. Good work Janet and everyone involved in this 'writing through fences' programme.

Gemma Deavin

This is a beautifully told, extremely important, story.

June Perkins

An inspiring initiative. Very heartened to hear someone is doing something like this.

Leafygreens

'Is it a human being that you see what you look at me?
From the depths of your soul, I ask you to give me an honest answer.'
Oh, yes, most surely a human being, but not a saint.
Just one of my kind, the clever, adaptable primates with the selfish gene, driven by the need to find and take the best for their own, using as tools the language and selfawareness that set 'us' apart from the 'other' animals, squeezed from their habitats and marginalised, suffering human dominion.
Childlike in your appeal for succour, adult in its use.

Gloria MacPhedran

This is an amazing story. You are giving hope to people and sometimes this is all they need to get through another day. Thank you Janet.

Lisa Clarke

Wow Jane this is such a powerful story. Thank you for sharing.

Jill Parris

Hi Jane you are doing wonderful work. I pointed you to what our group is doing on your facebook page. If you are looking for volunteers on the outide please let me know. I have worked as a psychologist with new settlers (migrants, humanitarian entrants and asylum seekers in the community for 8 years.

Dr Kerri Clarke

Thank you so much Janet for your effort. So many of us feel helpless about the horrendous long term imprisonment of refugees (both on- and off-shore). Despite our continuous campaigns to change policies to stop the inhumane treatment and fear mongoring around asylum seekers, nothing seems to change except to worsen. Here you are making a real difference in helping people have hope - hope that they may stay sane during indefinite detention. Thank you ABC for bringing such positive actions to our attention - so we can all become part of the solution.

Jaala Freeman

Such good work you are doing, so important to show people acceptance. I would also love to help in any way but I can see that organising other people is a whole new demand.

Claire

An Inspiring project. Hope that it continues to spread peace and well being amongst the refugee communities

Marie Feigl

Great stuff, Janet. It is things like this that help asylum seekers in detention to know that some one out there cares, and to give them hope. Also, a great ABC document, Jane, which helps raise community awareness of what asylum seekers in detention are enduring and that they are human beings with the same fears, love, ambitions, humour, bravery, courage and red blood in their veins, as us. Keep up the good work, Janet and ABC.

Julie Gittus

Beautifully produced and such an uplifting story. I wish I could nominate Janet Galbraith for the Nobel Peace Prize.

janet galbraith

Hello Rosemary, Jillian, Sheryl and Jean.
Lovely to get your feedback.
My thoughts on 'doing' are that one of the most helpful things anyone can do is to contact your local advocacy group be it Rural Australian's for Refugees, RISE, DASSAN, a church based group, ASRC, ARC, Circle of Friends. This is a good place to start.
Letter writing to politicians. self-education and community education are important. RISE and ASRC and some others hold training sessions for volunteers which can be helpful. I believe that visiting someone (someone who would like a visitor) in a detention centre in an ongoing way and forming relationships is of course very important. If there is a detention centre near where you live this would be what I suggest - perhaps your local advocacy group will have some ideas about this.
There are some people who have been organising toys, clothes etc to go into detention centre's - these are especially needed in Nauru, CI and Manus but the logistics of getting them there are difficult.
In relation to work being published you can go to thearrivalists@tumblr.com to see some of the writing; work has also been published in borderlands e-journal, Mascara Literary Review and as part of other mixed media works. I will attempt to post these all together sometime soon.
I have thought about letter writing and like the idea however it is often difficult. Julian Burnside was doing a letter writing campaign into Manus but I am not sure how successful that was. You should be able to find some information on his blog. In relation to letter writing etc - I will give this more thought. OR perhaps you could talk to others and find a way of setting something up.
In relation to helping with Writing Through Fences, I am, at this point in time, formalising the group more broadly so that this is more possible.
It is great to see such positive messages. Thank you.
Thanks to Jane Curtis who made this dock.
Best Wishes,
Janet Galbraith

Yve Weinberg

what a wonderful way to support people in detention! Good on you Jane!

Jessica

Wonderful work! Thankyou

Tam

Just lovely Jane -have you heard of this project? thepledgeblog.wordpress.com

Jillian McCulloch

Agree with Rosemary, please inform us of ways to help refugees in detention such as writing letters (like pen pal) or setting up another means of communication to give them hope. Is there anywhere we can send things like clothes or toys or shoes for the children? It is hard to find information on how the public can help refugees in detention (especially when there is a distance barrier).

Sheryl lamb

Will their work be published...the power of the pen....the greatest tool ever!